Trail Blazers links: Is it time to break up the Blazers?

The Portland Trail Blazers are down 0-3 to the New Orleans Pelicans and are one more loss away from being swept out of the playoffs and heading into an offseason that is sure to be filled with tough questions.

Portland was getting stronger contributions from its secondary players during the regular season, and that group has struggled in the playoffs. Lillard is getting attacked on defense and pressured on offense, and McCollum isn’t picking up the slack. Even the most optimistic Blazers fans have to admit that the roster needs some help. The same could’ve been said for the Raptors entering this season—after four straight playoff defeats—but the difference is that Portland already overhauled its defensive system this season and it lacks the developing youth that Toronto has on its bench. The story of Portland’s demise is eerily similar to past seasons. But aside from hitting jackpot in the draft (or LeBron James signing with them for the veteran minimum), there isn’t a realistic way to “expeditiously” craft a championship-caliber roster.

It would be foolish to say that the Blazers need to blow up their entire roster. There is, indeed, talent on the team. But what they do need is a shakeup to create better roster balance and add stronger wing defenders who can shoot. Since they lack assets and high draft picks, the best way to get much better is to risk getting worse by making a big move.

No team has ever come back from an 0-3 deficit in the NBA playoffs, and it seems much less likely that that record’s going to be broken here than it does that the Blazers themselves are broken. A week ago, Portland had hopes of being a dark-horse conference finalist. Now, they’re days away from an offseason in which the organization will have to make some difficult decisions about how this team should be reconstructed, and how that effort can even begin given a nine-figure balance sheet loaded with players who might be tough to move.

That’s the power of what Davis, Holiday, Mirotic, Rondo and the rest of Gentry’s charges have managed to accomplish in a week’s time: they’ve turned Portland from one of the season’s best stories back into a cautionary tale, all by virtue of their ruthless attention to detail and relentless execution of a smart game plan on both ends of the floor. It’s been remarkable to watch, and you can bet it’s got the rest of the Western Conference — including the Golden State Warriors, who also took a 3-0 lead in their opening-round series on Thursday, and who are staring down a matchup with these Pelicans in Round 2 that might not feature Stephen Curry in the early going — taking notice.

• Zito Madu of SB Nation on how the Pelicans went from a team of castoffs to a true playoff threat through their 3-0 lead on Portland:

This is a whole different attitude for a Pelicans’ team that had been used to mediocrity and disappointment for so long. Thanks to that attitude, they look like a juggernaut. Rondo is giving a master class from the point guard position. Mirotic is scoring 30 points in the playoffs. Holiday has been phenomenal on both ends, saving Game 1 with some unreal defensive stops and winning Game 2 with clutch shots. Davis is casually unstoppable and everywhere. Their defense overall has been suffocating.

The Pelicans have taken the world and the Blazers by complete surprise, and what started as an attempt to make some noise had turned into a warning to the rest that this is a dangerous and different Pelicans team.

The Pelicans led Game 3 by as many as 33 points. By that point, Nikola Mirotic had done most of his damage. The Pelicans had been a middle-of-the-road three-point shooting team much of the season. In the second half of the year, they were one of the 10 worst teams from deep. But they shot 11-of-27 from three against Portland, led by Mirotic’s four treys. He lit the Blazers up for 30 points on 12-of-15 shooting from the field. When Niko put up 14 points in the first quarter, the tone was set for the rest of the night.